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Is the Fix In?

There’s been talk that Manafort might be discussing a plea deal. However, Politico reported something else this morning that clouds the issue quite a bit.

Giuliani also confirmed that Trump’s lawyers and Manafort’s have been in regular contact and that they are part of a joint defense agreement that allows confidential information sharing.

“All during the investigation we have an open communication with them,” he said. â€œDefense lawyers talk to each other all the time, where, as long as our clients authorize it, therefore we have a better idea of whatâ€™s going to happen. Thatâ€™s very common.â€

â€œWhat kind of mind twists that statistic into â€˜Oh, fake news is trying to hurt my image,â€™â€ she said. â€œHow can you be so self-centered and try to distort the truth so much? Itâ€™s mind boggling.â€

Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R), whose Senate bid has been endorsed by Trump, said in a tweet that he disagreed with the president, relaying that â€œan independent study said thousands were lostâ€ and that he had been to Puerto Rico seven times and â€œsaw the devastation firsthand.â€

It's a hard call to make in what Manafort is going to do.. If I were Manafort the one thing I wouldn't do is put my faith in Trump to save me. If Manafort takes a plea deal with the the understanding that he'll escape his punishment through a pardon, he should realize that any guilty pleas will serve as ammunition to insure conviction of charges brought by state authorities. I'd put my faith in Mueller that from whatever deal is reached, when the dust of legal exposure settles, Manafort will know his ordeal is over and he'll know what his final costs are.

Another consideration is the idea that pardons are given without a challenge to their motive and validity, but if a pardon is given in the furtherance of a criminal scheme.. there's always the possibility that it can be challenged in court and overturned. That's not a likely scenario, but in a situation when that kind of knowledge is staring the public in the face you can never be sure of how people will react to it.

What's this all about? My months long journey through the dark and cold twit filter of moderation has ended. I feel like a new man experiencing the thrill of instant gratification for the first time. All praise to the internet god!

Swami is right. Trump screws his friends and colleagues. Manafort should know that. Trump may pardon his kids, and take the fall for them, but everybody else is fair game. Trump may be doomed, anyway. If and when he goes down, he will find that Putin is not his friend.

Manafort has more skills and knows how to play players bigger and better than Trump and his ilk. His landing will be way too soft. But then, he knows the strength of his bootstraps and the weakness of the other players. He is one hell of a sociopath, and will succor in the detestable lot. He is a serious player in this game, but his lack of moral fiber makes our fearless leader look like a virgin alter boy.

I really hope Manafort squeals/ He doesn't want the Ukraine to try him, or putin to come asking for all the $ back.

Speaking of which, perhaps the attack on the ICC has to do with Trump's wanting to avoid the Hague: after all he has stolen people's children away from their parents for a misdemeanor and not allowing people to ask for asylum.

I really believe Trump will go down for nobody, not even his kids. He has a heart of stone and the only person he loves is himself. He sees his kids as an extension of himself. Therefore he demands loyalty but does not reciprocate. If he pardons them for anything, it will only be to save himself. They called Dick Cheney Darth Vader but Trump is more like Satan himself.

Oleg Deripaska is going to have a much harder time making Manafort whole after Mueller gets done tearing him apart.

I heard one of the talking heads say that Mueller is only interested in getting to the truth of what happened with the Russian interference in our elections. That to me would mean that he's not overly interested in getting his pound of flesh from Manafort and would be inclined cut him some major slack to achieve his objective. I suspect that Manafort is going to cooperate as part of his plea agreement because he knows that Trump has enough involvement and guilt in this whole affair that he won't even be able to save himself.

One of the biggest thing that bothers me is Trump's tweets praising Manafort for being brave and not ratting. It's language like that that speaks to Trump's guilt. And even more than that it speaks to his criminal/ childish mindset. I think back to his first official visit to the CIA headquarters where he said the men and women under his leadership, "I've got your back", making an inference that they possessed criminal intent in what they do. He a fucking bag of shit! The sooner we get rid of him the better off this nation is going to be.

Does anybody want this kind of garbage pail to represent the standard of our morality as a nation? What happened to the values of truth, integrity, honor? Decency, civility, compassion?

“The best-case scenario for Mueller is Trump does issue a pardon and then that issuance of the pardon becomes additional evidence they are using against the president, but Manafort faces state charges.” said a former prosecutor.

Seems likely that a pardon seals the issue of corrupt intent if Mueller can show that Manifort had information damaging to the president which he withheld to the benefit of the president. A pardon becomes a gift to prosecutors.

Trump is famous for cheating the subcontractors on his buildings. Trump is fine with making a deal and breaking it. Once Mueller is sentenced, he has no leverage in negotiating with prosecutors. Trump can continue to promise a pardon is in the works – next month. This becomes problematic for others who are indicted when it becomes evident Trump has left every co-conspirator out to dry. (What happened to Flynn?)

Also, a pardon means Manifort is no longer protected by the 5th amendment and any material deception to a grand jury is a different crime. (Another reason Trump will continue to dangle a pardon which he won't deliver.)

Manafort will plead guilty to one count of conspiracy against the United States and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, according to documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Five other charges were dropped in the new court filing.

Now that wasn't too hard.. was it? Manafort is going to cooperate and it doesn't look good for the Trumpster.

In a normal world pleading guilty to the offense of conspiracy against the United States is a charge that would exclude the possibility of ever receiving a pardon. Especially if that pardon is being granted by a co-conspirator. For some reason I think the dynamic of the witch hunt has changed.